St. Paul daily globe., 1887-05-27
1t Broke Out Early This Morning in Ex-
tensive Car Stables and Cremated
1900 Work Horses.
It Then Leaped the Street Boundaries
and Licked Up Seventy-Five Tene-
ment Houses.
Half Dressed and Panic Stricken People
Forced to Fly in Droves for Their
Lives.
Belief That a Number of Persons Have
Perished in the Flames--A Gill
cinnati Blaze.

New YORK, May 27, a. m.-Flames
broke out at 80 a. IN. in the south end
OF the Belt stables on Tenth avenue,
between Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth
streets. The building was entirely de-
stroyed, with 1,60O horses and nearly all
the cars in the building. Two blocks of
buildings are also in flames. The flames
were seen by one of the
night hands, who gave the alarm.
The flames spread rapidly and soon
enveloped the building in their folds.
The building was a five-s tory structure
and covered a square block, reaching
back to Eleventh avenue. The upper
stories were occupied by the repair
shop and combustible material, which
blazed as soon as touched by
the fire. The offices were stu
ated in the southeast corner.
They were in flames so quickly that
there was no chance to save the books
OF the company. In the stables were
over 1,600 horses and several hundred
cars. Only ten cars and two horses were
saved. AT 2 o'clock the walls of the
building fell in with a crash, sending
millions of sparks and blazing pieces
of wood high in the air. The
call of the ''three sixes'' had been made
as soon as the fire chief arrived at the
scene and engines from all parts of the
city, with the water tower andk hoo and
ladder companies, were rapidly coming
The heat from the flaming building was
so great that several firemen and
At 1:45 a. m. the flames, aided
by the strong wind which
was prevailing, had leaped across the
wide avenue and communicated to the
whole block on the east side between
Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth streets.
The block was composed of siX-story
tenement houses and coal yard. The
TERROR-STRICKEN TENANTS
poured out of the building like swarm
OF bees, praying, fighting, cursing, by
turns. The scene OF terror was indie
scribable. The buildings burned rapidly,
though the fronts facing the avenue
were of brown stone. BY 2:3O they
were completely gutted. The flames
spread to the entire square
block over to Ninth avenue.
At 2:3O the next block below had caught
fire and was blazing fiercely. The
away were filled with frightened, crying
and woe-stricken tenants, fleeing from
the ravages of the flames. The fire at
.tracted thousands of awe-struck specta-
tors. The loss to the Belt line people
is probably not less than S400,00O 1t is
estimated that the entire loss will be
over 81 100000. The tenement houses
were
THICKLY PEOPLED.
Every floor had from four to five fam
lies. All were poor people, who will
lose all their property. 1t is not known
how the fire originated. A number of
men slept in the stables. Ambulances
have been sent to the scene to be
ready if needed. Owing to the
distance of the fire, in the
upper part of the city, it is difficult to
get particulars.
3:30-A telephone message just re-
ceived from the scene of the fire says it
is believed that there has been heavy
loss of life. A number of policemen
and firemen were overcome by the heat
and sent to the Roosevelt street hos
pital.
$40 a. m.-Additional reports indicate
that the destruction of property was
much greater than at first reported, but
figures cannot now be given.
3:45-Seventy-five dwellings, mostly
frame tenements inhabited by poor peo-
pie, a soap factory and brewery are
among the buildings burned. The loss
will aggregate over S1,000,OOO. The fire
is believed to be under control.